Teachers Exercise – Take off the mask

One of the reasons why the standard and quality of education in Namibia is so low is due to the fact that we teachers are missing certain tools in our teaching-tool kits.

The tools which I am referring to are not taught at any institution which offers teacher training in Namibia. Dear teachers, these teachers’ exercises will add value to your teaching style. They will help you to connect with your learners on a deeper level. This is no abstract theory. This is a practical advice, born out of real classroom experience!

Article 6.1.1 of the National Curriculum for Basic Education (the Teacher’s Bible) encourages us teachers to get learners actively involved in the process of learning and through nurturing the tradition of challenging the learner’s ideas. In my last article, I suggested that it would be wise to allow learners to challenge the teacher’s ideas, too. That would bring about fresh insights and new answers to the subject at hand.

One factor which prevents us from reaching excellence in teaching is our attitude towards our learners and to ourselves. We become a different person when we are in front of the class and we behave natural after work. We teachers slip into a role when we teach and become natural again after work. This means that we put on a mask during the lessons. There is another mask, too. Teachers put another mask on students. They don’t see that students are human beings. Now we have two masks which are interacting. The outcome can only be fake! Do you see now why the various industries complain about graduates not being properly prepared for the job?

Exercise Tell yourself every day, before you enter your classroom, “Today I will stand in front of my class as Anna, not as Mrs Nghipondoka!’’ (I pray that teachers are intelligent enough to use their own name, here). Take off your teacher mask and be your natural self. Talk to your learners as if they were real human beings…because they are real human beings. Being your natural self will change the degree of learning in your class.

Shapumba ya Shapumba is the founder of Natural Learning Education Consultancy. He teaches The Art of Learning to students and The Art of Teaching to teachers. For booking contact: 0812786925 or shapumbashapumba at yahoo.com